Category: Real Estate Marketing

If you’re a real estate investor or real estate agent, this Evergreen marketing article could change the way you think about marketing your business.

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My aim with this article is two-fold:

1. My story and how I realized all leads and marketing aren’t created equal. The mainstream real estate world teaches us all marketing that is accidentally structured to keep us trapped in a never-ending marketing “hamster wheel”. Yes, it works to get leads and deals, but at what cost to our lifestyles and stress levels?
2. Show you how a shift in the way you market

It was 2011, and I was worn out.

I was running my previous company before Carrot and was second-guessing whether this “entrepreneurial dream” of true freedom & impact was real… or whether it was just something the late-night infomercial pitch masters sold to make a buck.

Financially, my company was doing great when you looked at the profit and loss statement at the end of the year, but I was tired of the “boom and bust” cycle my income and leads were on.

One month, our outbound marketing would hit and bring in many leads and sales…

… the next month, my business partner and I would take our “minimum draw” of $1,500 each.

So, we’d hop back on the “marketing hamster wheel” and crank out some more outbound marketing, get customers coming in, and the cycle would repeat every 3-4 months.

My business was successful in all of the normal metrics people would use to grade it, but it felt like the way I was doing it wasn’t sustainable and certainly wasn’t giving me the consistency, predictability, and momentum I craved.

In 2012, I finally sat down and asked… “How can I get more consistency and predictability so this business can support me rather than me support it?”

Are you tired of needing to get a gazillion unqualified leads to close a deal?

More leads = more time and expense to sift through the tire kickers.

Inbound online marketing with Evergreen content is the answer. It attracts your most qualified prospects who are motivated to solve their problem. It builds trust and credibility with them 24/7, 365 through your Carrot Lead Generation Hub.

They convert from visitor to lead between 2-4 times higher… and lead to deal closed from 2-3 times higher. Resulting in lower lead volume but more profits and less hassle.

Timeframe: 90-day period | Source: Carrot Member Site Google Analytics

Evergreen marketing is what we focus on the most here at Carrot. We then amplify it with paid marketing and even hamster wheel marketing.

We’ll also discuss hamster wheel marketing in this post and the difference between it and Evergreen. To us, it’s not one or the other. It’s both. But you want to grow more and more into the Evergreen side of things because that’s where you create your consistency, freedom, and flexibility.

You can make a greater impact with your business, but that’s where your most valuable and highest converting leads come from is from, and then we amplify it with the hamster wheel approach.

What is Evergreen Marketing?

Evergreen marketing is essentially creating content and getting online in a spot where it will be there forever, your website or your “lead generation hub” here with Carrot, and then amplifying that on social media.

Where a lot of agents and investors go wrong is they take the content and they just put it on Facebook or Instagram.

That, to us, is what’s called “hamster wheel” marketing.

If you’re creating a piece of content and you just put it up on Facebook or Instagram, it’s going to be there for 24 to 48, maybe 72 hours before it gets pushed down, forcing you to get back on the hamster wheel and post again, and post again and post again, because the life span of that content is so short.

The lifespan of that content is so short that you must be on the hamster wheel continually.

If you get off the hamster wheel, stop doing those postings, stop doing direct mail, stop cold calling or doing RBMs, then your leads will eventually dwindle to a stop, and you’ve got to restart and get back on the hamster wheel.

Now, Evergreen is another way we like to focus outside of the hamster wheel. But it does take work. Evergreen is more like picturing a stack of bricks.

Here, you see the hamster wheel, which looks amazing because it’s easy. You can hop on it. You can take a step, and it immediately gives you feedback.

It immediately gives you a result. But the problem mentioned earlier is you have to stay on the hamster wheel forever or plug somebody into the hamster wheel for you to keep giving you the result.

That’s where agents or investors get burnt. Everyone tells them, “Do this method, do this method.” But two, three, four, five years later, they get burnt out because they’re still doing that hamster wheel marketing with no end or systems to make it Evergreen.

This is where we want to help make a change.

So, each brick in the stack represents a piece of content, a page on your website, something that will be there forever. It could be a video. It could be a location page of a neighborhood you do business in.

It could be a blog post that you launched through our automated blog post system or that you wrote.

Or, a video post on our system where you can take a short video from your cell phone, upload it to our video post feature, and automatically turn it from a video into a written article that you can then publish.

So, get into the weekly routine. Pick up a brick and stack it, pick up a brick and stack it.

Eventually, you’re going to have a whole row of bricks. It was dirty. It was hard work. You might even pull back and say, “I’ve done a lot of work here, and I’m not getting the result yet.”

That one row is not a wall.

What would happen if housebuilders stopped building a brick house in the first row? They were like, “Man, that was a lot of work. My hands are hurting. It’s not a wall yet; I’m just going to quit.”

Well, there wouldn’t be a house.

That’s where most people quit Evergreen marketing. They do a few actions and want instant gratification, as hamster wheel marketing gives them. But they didn’t shift their mindset to the long-term momentum-building mindset.

So instead, get on the hamster wheel, get some leads and deals coming in, but then go back and stack bricks.

Get into a routine of creating content. Another piece of content this week, another piece of content next week, a blog post next week, a video post, a video post, a location page, and eventually, you’ll have a brick wall that does all the work for you.

Remember, it will be slow going in the first three, four, five, six months potentially.

But as long as you’re consistently stacking bricks of quality content that answers real questions from your market, you’re entertaining in your way; you’re going to start to pick up that momentum.

Hamster wheel marketing, you get a quick result, but then you get off of it, and it goes down. Then you got to go, “Shoot. I got to get more business.” You get on it, get off, get on it, get off. This creates stress.

Evergreen marketing creates freedom.

Freedom or stress. You pick which one you want.

So, how long does this take to work? This little graph will show you—essentially the time and the results that we want to have you expect.

Evergreen Marketing Time to Results

The first one to two months is when you’re really going to be dialing things in. By now, you should have already had your website or lead generation hub created.

Dialed means you have your logo on your site, changed some of the content, and got some of the location pages created. Once you’ve got that dial, then this is where you’re ready to start to bring traffic to your website. Dial it in those first couple of months, add credibility, and get your content started.

In months two to five, two to six or so, that’s when you want to start some of that short-term marketing. Paid marketing, quick traffic methods, and things like that. And months five to 12 is when you really start to see this Evergreen content marketing pickup and get momentum.

So, in the early months, that’s when you will be doing a lot of work on the Evergreen marketing but may not see the highest level of result that you see over on a hamster wheel.

So, in the short term, once again, this Evergreen marketing works in tandem with short-term or quick-result marketing. In those first three months, execute things from that short-term marketing to get traffic and leads immediately.

While you’re executing short-term marketing, you’re going to want to be building the foundation, executing the long-term momentum-building Evergreen marketing, which is simply creating content on your website consistently that Google likes to answer questions for people’s problems.

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A Shifting Real Estate Industry

With the shifting real estate industry, there must be a marketing shift that has to happen in the tech disruption in general.

We will talk about this shift, what Evergreen marketing is and what it is not, and how you can really start to like it.

If you implement, stay consistent, and have patience, you’ll be able to get more consistent, more predictable, and high-quality leads.

People will be reaching out to you rather than you having to contact them. No longer will you need to rely on posting on Facebook 18 times a day. Instead, let’s get you to where you publish a piece of marketing today, and it works for you in six months, in a year, in three years, in five years.

You might say, “Yes, I want that, but what is it?”

We’re going to walk through what that is and show a couple of examples and case studies to really connect you to how it works for buyers and how it works for sellers.

We aim to get you to shift your marketing mindset into what will work amazingly well in the market ahead.

The industry is shifting, and you can see with the industry shift, there are two parts to the industry. There’s the retail side of the industry, and then there’s the wholesale side.

The Shifting Industry

The retail side is working through the MLS, working with real estate agents. On the wholesale side, of course, just like any industry, the auto industry and the grocery industry all have retail and wholesale sides.

Both of them serve a great purpose. Some people want to buy properties at a discount for investment, and they don’t want to pay retail. In contrast, some people want to sell properties at a discount in exchange for speed and convenience in solving their problems. And many real estate agents don’t tread into the other side very often. Many wonder, “Why would that seller sell at a discount when they can sell it over here for a higher price?”

Well, oftentimes, the seller wants to sell because of many reasons. They need to move fast, or they had a bad experience selling it traditionally before, or they want cash quickly, and they need it within 30 or 60 days, and they don’t want to have to put up with showings and people going through and making offers and backing out or a variety of other reasons.

It’s a big market over there, and it will keep growing with the iBuyers. iBuyers like Opendoor, Offerpad, and Zillow fall between retail and wholesale.

The big tech giants are starting to say, “Hey, I think we can do a little bit of what agents do a little bit better, and I think we can do a little bit of what house buyers and professional house buyers do a little bit better. And we will bring in better branding, better marketing, huge budgets, and try to shift the overall industry towards direct selling.”

Now, I feel that there will be more and more sellers selling directly to an end buyer through an investor or an iBuyer service like this.

I still feel that real estate agents will be the backbone of house sales over the next several decades. But, there will be a change, and we want to ensure that agents are not becoming a commodity.

We want to make sure that your commissions and your profits as an investor or agent are not being compressed. We want to make sure that you don’t die a slow death in your career because of this shift and get left behind in this shift.

So the next question is this: how do you stand out in this market? How do you stand out when there are a lot of agents, when there are a lot of investors, and these iBuyers and tech giants are coming in to try to disrupt the industry?

You stand out, not by creating fancier CRMs and fancier automation with text and email. That stuff is fantastic. That stuff amplifies what you’ve already got.

The way that we actually stand out is by becoming an authority.

It’s an authority on a topic, on a neighborhood, on a specific type of a seller situation, in the area-owned real estate, whatever it is, becoming an authority that people look to, to say,

“Wow, that person knows a lot about the subject. I trust that person, and I feel less risk in taking care of better if I work with that person with this type of transaction.”

With the authority scale, it goes from the very bottom of the tactician.

Tacticians know:

• How to take the steps.
• How to do the basics of a transaction as a real estate investor or agent.
• How to close deals, but their earning potential will be very, very low.

The tacticians’ influence will also be very, very low on those clients in that industry.

So to raise your income and become more stable as an agent or an investor, you need to start taking steps to become an expert.

Experts are:

• Well beyond just knowing how to do the tactics, shuffling the paper, knowing how to do the transaction.
• They are experts in niches such as experts in a neighborhood or neighborhoods, in a type of a buyer, a type of a seller, certain types of transactions as an investor, or if you’re an agent, you’re an expert in commercial property, investment properties and you’ve put in the time to invest into learning the expertise in that.

These things are going to increase your pay, and it’s also going to increase your ability to influence your market to work with you so you can serve them better.

But, you need to move to be an authority to really win

There are going to be a lot of tacticians in this next phase of the real estate industry that are going to get pushed out of the market. Technology is going to gobble up those people.

Experts are great, but the difference between an expert and an authority is an expert that many people know is an expert. An expert is just someone who knows a lot of information, but no one may know who you are.

How do you get to have people know who you are?

The more people who know who you are and are an expert on this topic, the more people will know you. The more people will be attracted to you, the more sustained and consistent that business will be.

The way to bridge that gap between expert and authority and increase your pay, decrease your risk in the market, and increase your ability to stay and thrive in this market change while these two segments, tacticians and experts, have a tougher time and they start to go downhill is you need become an authority.

How to Become an Online Authority

What is the only way to become an authority?

The answer is CONTENT.

What is content?

One way to do it is with your cell phone. You can record a video and upload it on Facebook. You can also take that video and upload it to your Carrot site (if you’re a Carrot member) and turn that video into a written blog post using our Video Post feature. That’s content.

When people see your content, and they see your expertise and personality, they see your authority on that subject, especially if they see it over and over again.

It could be a written piece of content. It could be you in front of a chamber of commerce meeting. That is content, even though it’s in person.

If you’re attending those networking meetings or meeting one-to-one at a coffee shop, that’s amazing, but you can only scale that so far. What happens during situations that pandemics, like America and the world, have been through in 2020?

You can no longer show up to those big networking meetings. You can no longer go to the coffee shop and shake someone’s hand.

But what you can do is create content so people can find you online. Online is only going to get bigger and bigger. More and more people are going to the internet to make Google searches, and that’s where we want you to be.

We want you to be rooted in this authority or eventually branch up to the “celebrity” authority in your market.

How do you do that?

This is where Evergreen marketing steps in.

Evergreen marketing is so amazing; that’s why we’ve gone all-in on Evergreen marketing; it’s what we’ve done since day one of Carrot.

We’re not a company that started out doing X, and then we realized this opportunity, and we’re shifting our strategy. We’ve been doing Evergreen marketing since day one. It’s what the entire business has been built on since the inception of Carrot at the end of 2013.

Millions of leads have been brought in through our system, mainly motivated sellers, but also a ton of buyers, a ton of tenants, land sellers, land buyers, mobile homes, retail listing houses, you name it.

How Evergreen Marketing Works And Examples Of Carrot Members Who Have Been Highly Successful Using It

1. Buyers and sellers are searching online every day to solve their problems.
2. You create valuable content and put it on your website (lead generation hub).
   
   It could be a video like we’re seeing here from Anthony Beckham. It could be a blog post. It could be a location page where you’re talking about areas and neighborhoods in which you buy or sell houses. You can see this one from Anthony; he talks about the top five neighborhoods in Roseburg, Oregon.
   
   He put it on YouTube and also created a video post. His video already has over 1000 views.
3. If optimized well, your site ranks high. Searchers land on it and engage.
   
   Search “North Umpqua River homes for sale”.
   
   The number one result in Google is a Carrot site. One of their location pages they stacked a brick and created a bunch of location pages, and it’s outranking Zillow, and that produces leads every single month for them of people who are looking to buy in that luxury home area.
4. Your content lives and works. It builds trust, credibility, and authority 24/7 for months and years.
5. Rinse and repeat over the long term so your content is everywhere online.
6. Amplify your content with social media, ads, and email.

You’ve got to start shifting some of your patterns, start shifting some of your thoughts on what marketing is for you. Shift some of your hamster wheel efforts into Evergreen efforts, and then you start to stack more and more content pieces onto your website.

Then, to really make it hum, those content pieces you get on your website, share them on social media, share them on Facebook.

Just like you see here, Anthony is linking up his Carrot page with his video, and he has over 16,000 views.

Once again, the strategy in your first two to three months will be the most work. That’s probably where you’re going to be putting three to five hours a weekend into creating the content getting your marketing plan created in that first month or so.

After that first six months, it will probably be more like an hour a week, and that’s your weekly marketing commitment regarding your content.

Here’s a case study of how Brian Rockwell, an investor down in Dallas, Texas, is getting sellers through Evergreen marketing. There’s a full case study. We will link it up below on how Brian Rockwell has done that.

Brian went from school teacher to a multi-million dollar wholesaling and house flipping business and multifamily investment company just from Evergreen marketing and amplifying it with paid marketing.

This is a text message he sent us. Six wholesale deals this month. If all goes through, $124,000. Four came from pay-per-click.

And then one came from organic and one came from retargeting.

So, there is an amazing, amazing result for seller-motivated households.

Let’s look at a real estate agent G Team, for buyers—North Umpqua River homes for sale. Anyone who types up that phrase in Google now takes about four to five months of doing the process, putting their heads down, and doing the work, or you can hire our services team to do some of this work for you.

They’re ranking above Zillow and Realtor.

What does that equal? It equals leads. The G Team gets leads every single day from that one page.

Now, imagine if you started to stack on more of those pages, you get three leads from this one every month, two leads from this one and 10 leads from this one every month, and three leads from this one, none from this one, but six from this and three from this, you get the idea.

Here’s another example. So, the niche seller leads. Let’s say you’re going after sellers who are in tight niches. They have a problem. They’re searching online. I want to sell my inherited house in Detroit, or sell my house in a divorce, or sell my luxury home, or how to sell my house without a real estate agent, or how to sell my house with a real estate agent, phrases like that.

What if you were ranked really high in Google for that phrase, just like these Carrot members are, and they’re ranked in front of those clients, what does it turn into? Well, it turns into leads.

This one came through Steve’s Carrot website. He put Evergreen content up there. That was a blog post that he used for an automated blog system, and he used one of our plays in the playbook to modify those to give it a better chance to rank well in Google.

And you can see this one came from Google search, and this one came in at 7:33 PM. Carrot is working while you are eating dinner, while you’re hanging out with your family, or while you’re sleeping, Carrot’s working. That is what Evergreen marketing is. We want it to give you freedom.

Lastly, the whole thing with the strategy of Evergreen marketing is that it is a fundamental shift in the way that you do things.

If you want to be on the hamster wheel for the next five or 10 years and grinding away in five or 10 years and having to continue to post and continue to do things and continue to work five, six, seven days a week, then keep on doing hamster wheel marketing as your only marketing method.

We want to start to have you shift things over to Evergreen marketing, but it’s going to take work.

It’s going to take focus. It will take effort, but in 12-24 months, you will say, “Oh my gosh, I’m so glad I made this shift in my business because now I have freedom. I have flexibility. I’ve got this machine and lead generation hub that is continually attracting the right prospects that convert the best that want to work with us.”

And this is what your site is going to look like essentially.

You have got your core homepage or Lead Generation Hub. Then there are “core conversion” pages, niche/location pages, and the authority content.

Let’s dive into those a little deeper:

1. Core Conversion Pages: 
   1. Purpose: To convert visitors into leads and deals at a high rate
   2. What: Your home page, primary nav pages, reviews, About, FAQ, How it works, etc. 
   3. All geared to guide people through a specific set of content to answer questions, squash objections, and convert a visitor into a lead and deal.
   4. Frequency: You create these one-time but then update them as needed.
      
2. Niche / Location Pages:
   1. Purpose: To attract new prospects who are searching for localized phrases. 
   2. What: Pages specific to a location and/or niche that are created to rank well in Google for those localized searchers. 
   3. Seller: It’s best to duplicate a motivated seller lead gen page and localize it for each market. This may be a home page on our motivated seller sites or a seller page on an agent site. 
   4. Buyers: Use the Locations page tool so we can populate properties. And each location is unique, so it’s harder to duplicate a page. These pages take more heavy lifting. 
   5. Frequency: Ideally, 5-10 per quarter. 
      
3. Priority “Authority” Content: 
   1. Purpose: To build ongoing trust, credibility, and authority through small but hyper-focused pieces of content. 
   2. What: Automated content pack blog posts, video posts, etc. These may be market updates, video posts answering common questions, etc. 
   3. Frequency: Weekly. Ideally, 1 automated post per week and 1 VideoPost.

Conclusion

That’s it. That’s publishing one authority content piece in under an hour a week, every single week. Then, take your “Lead Generation Hub” and amplify it by sharing it on social media and or paid marketing.

Over time, you’ll see these stack up in Google and start to bring you traffic.

Eventually, you can start to get off of that hamster wheel, and you can start to stack those bricks and get that freedom you’re looking for.

Hopefully, your mindset shifted around what to do. You understand what Evergreen marketing is now to crush it, gain that freedom, gain that flexibility, and grow momentum.

A real estate marketing funnel is the system that guides visitors through your website or to your landing page. It turns visitors into leads, helps you nurture them into legitimate prospects, and eventually turns them into clients.

This real estate marketing funnel post covers the basics of how to set up a marketing funnel, but the post you’re currently reading is for the advanced agent or investor who already has a business that’s growing. If you’re already generating consistent leads, closing consistent deals, how do you add that lever in your marketing, and take it up the next level?

Because that’s where it gets exciting. You start to add magnitudes of results to your business by making some simple switches in your marketing.

And the reason I’m saying this is because in a competitive market, like the time I’m recording this video right now, your sellers, your buyers, they have lots of options.

So, if anyone is kidding themselves to think that you are the only option for your prospect net market, it’s not true.

Advanced Real Estate Marketing Funnel

How A House Seller Decides…

The 5 stage process that all house sellers ponder as they sell their house. Does your marketing meet them at each stage and advance them to the next step… or does it leave them hanging?

How do you make sure that you’re delivering the message that’s going to crack through all that marketing clutter out there? That delivers that message.

It’s going to crack through that prospect so that they choose you versus the dozens of other competitors that you’re working around. How do you do that? Well, it’s by tapping into what’s already going on in your prospect’s brain.

“Evergreen” Marketing

One of the biggest real estate marketing resources that we oftentimes don’t use is the conversations that are going on in your prospect’s brain before they ever reach to you.

This is “Evergreen” marketing approach helps control the conversation. The first thing I’d really encourage you to do is get to learn your prospect inside and out. Better than they know themselves.

How do you do this?

When you’re on the phone with your sellers or your buyers, ask them questions. “Hey, how did you get to my website? Where did you find out about me? Man, so why did you give me a call versus all those other direct mail … those postcards on there? What was it about me that stood out?”

After you close those deals, ask them those questions and get those testimonials. But ask them the questions, not just so you get the testimonials, so you can get the data and information on how your prospects think, and I’m going to show you how to use it in your marketing.

Here Are A Few Examples Of Brands Or Companies When I Google Their Name…

Show Them You’re the Best Solution

So, once again, you close the deal.

“Hey, awesome. So, how did you find out about us? What was it about us versus the other agents or investors you were working with that kind of tipped you over the edge to have you work with us?”

They’re going to say specific things, and those specific things are giving you a direct line into their brain and the way that they think. And now we can start to use those words, use those conversations, to connect with them better, to show them how you are the best solution.

To make sure you’re crafting your marketing, so you’re the clear best solution. Not just the one that offered them the most money. If you do this right, you can offer them less money than your competition and you can still close the deals. All right. I’m going to show you how.

Understand Your Prospect

How do the big boys do market … big boys and girls … do marketing in a big way? The first thing is, once again, you have to understand your prospect. You can’t do amazing marketing without understanding your prospects.

Many real estate agents and investors do marketing only at this first level and second level. That’s it. Most investors are stuck in problem aware and solution aware, and then they say,

“Hey, here’s how we’re going to be able to offer you a price for your house.”

Or,

“Here’s how you buy a property from us or rent a property from us.”

But where the meat is, where so much leverage is right now that investors and agents aren’t focusing on is this stuff in the middle.

It’s this stuff in the middle. It’s dragging them, pulling them, guiding them from problem aware to solution aware to verifying to making a decision and then referring out.

And one thing that’s a big, big, big myth and a big, big, big issue with real estate … not as many agents. Agents get this. You guys get this part. But real estate investors don’t, in general. That you work the deal thinking it’s a one-off transaction. That you’re never going to work with that seller or buyer again, especially sellers.

People are treating it this way.

But if you do this right, your sellers are going to refer you over to other people that you can work. So, you’ve gotta do all this. This one deal can turn into two, three, four, five deals for you if you work it right.

Your Strategy

Here’s what we’re going to do. So, the first thing in problem aware is the very first stage that your sellers or buyers or anyone is going through before they ever even see your message. This is where they just inherited the house. This is where they’re going through that divorce. This is where they just need to sell the house.

They’re moving.

And whatever that situation is… their listing expired with an agent and they don’t want to relist it… they now have a problem, and they’re aware of that problem. Before that problem exists in their life, they’re not going to notice your bandit signs. They’re not going to see your direct mail pieces and think twice about them. They’re not making the searches on Google to find you.

So, one key is knowing that they’re problem aware.

• What are those problems they’re having?
• How are they feeling?
• What things are they searching?

As soon as you know that, put those messages into your direct mail. Put those messages in your bandit signs on your websites. At this stage, they’re going to notice that bandit sign, and call you up.

They’re going to see the direct mail and go, “Man, are these people going to be able to solve this problem.” So, that’s why the direct mail piece and your website copy and ads need to be direct to that point. “Hey, do you have this problem? Sweet, we can solve it.” That sounded like a Vanilla Ice song for a second.

Real Estate Marketing Funnel: The Solution Aware Stage

So, right here, then they’re solution aware. As soon as they see you’re advertising somewhere and your competitor’s advertising, now they know there are solutions out there to their problem.

Now they know, “Okay, well, I can list this house. I don’t really know what that looks like. There are also these things called house buyers out there, or I can buy investment properties from these entities or there are places to rent-to-own.” And then they know that it exists.

But, how do we then make sure that your solution is the one that stands out in their mind? Well, over here on your website, in your marketing, in your ads, things like that when you’re talking to them, at this point, they’re wanting to compare things. How does X’s service compare to Y’s service? How does your service compare to other real estate investors?

That’s where you’ve gotta have your unique selling proposition. Check out our USP Whiteboard Video, and our USP CarrotCast.

You’ve gotta have a clear, clear value on why you are different than the others, and also compare you as a real estate agent versus a for sale by owner. Or you as a real estate investor versus listing with an agent. Compare those with the content on your website and in your advertising.

Build Credibility in Your Process

Next, you need to build credibility in your process. Because people want the process to be transparent. They want to know going into it that they’re pretty clear how the process is going to go down and this is one of the biggest things.

I want to challenge you guys as real estate agents and investors… for some reason, there’s something in the psyche of a real estate investor, a house flipper, and a wholesaler, that makes you believe that you cannot be completely transparent with the way you’re developing your offers.

If that mindset stays in your brain over the long-term, you’re going to lose deals versus the investors who grasp that,

“Hey, you know what? Our prospect really cares.”

They really want to know how this works, and if I can add transparency to the process if I can gain trust and credibility … if I can show them exactly how I’m coming up with that offer, and not think that by doing that it’s going to put me at a disadvantage,” you’re going to win.

How is Opendoor, a company that’s valued at over a billion dollars just in three to four years … how is Opendoor winning the game in the markets that they’re going after?

It’s not because their marketing is that much better. It’s because they have a very clear value proposition and people know exactly how their offer is going to be calculated.

Exactly.

And then the process is transparent throughout the whole thing.

Strengthening Your Position

So, next what we need to do is if we’ve done the comparisons with content … we have ads that pop up on Facebook that say, “Selling a house to an investor versus an agent,” or an ad that says something to the effect of … Brad Chandler of Express Homebuyers, had a great ad that says, “Don’t work with those fly-by-night investors. Here’s why.”

Then it serves up a testimonial that has a seller that talks about working with two of those fly-by-night investors that didn’t fulfill on their promise of their offer, and how Brad did. So, that’s comparing.

That’s planting seeds of doubt in that prospect about the other people and strengthening your position.

Real Estate Marketing Funnel: Vetting and Verifying

Next, once they understand there are options out there and how they differ, now they’re going to go, “Man, so, there’s four options, or three options, or two that I really think are pretty good. Which ones should I work with?” So, they’re going to go in the vetting and verifying phase.

They’re going to be Googling your company name. Your company name plus reviews.

They’re going to be looking for Better Business Bureau. Not just that you have a BBB profile, but you have a positive review profile. You’ve got a dozen or two dozen reviews that are four out of five or five out of five.

On the agent side, they’re going to be looking for credentials and work history.

This is where you start getting testimonials and video testimonials of your prospects and clients talking about the experience of working with you. Talking about your character. That you follow through and close your deals. That you fulfill the promises you make.

That you don’t weasel out of your contracts because you can. And this part is huge, because if there are four or five options they’re looking at, and they Google you and they don’t find anything that gives them that warm and fuzzy, that they really want to work with you but they do with someone else, they’re going to win the deal.

I have a question for you. Who has ever purchased a product or decided to not purchase a product, any product, because of one review that you saw? Just one. That happens all the time. You’re on Amazon and you’re looking at it, and there’s one review that’s like, “Ah … man. I’m not going to get it. Because if that person experienced it, there’s a chance that I might as well.”

So, if we’re not thinking that same way in our businesses … that one review, that one testimonial, that one bit of credibility can completely tip the scales from someone working with you to someone working with someone else, then we’re kidding ourselves. So, in this phase in the competitive market, the vetting and verifying market, is big.

How do you do that with your ads?

Make sure you’re putting great case studies and testimonials in your Facebook ads, in your Google ads. Make sure you’re putting great case studies and testimonials in your credibility kit when you’re meeting with your sellers or with your buyers.

They need to know that you’re a great company to work with, and there needs to be overwhelming proof that you’re a legit person. You’re honest, trustworthy, and you will fulfill your promise. All right?

Last right here, decision. How do you pull them to a decision? First of all, you’ve gotta have a really clear call to action. Say, “Here’s what you do next.” Present them a real offer. Follow up on that offer. Don’t assume that they’re going to contact you if that offer is good. Follow up, be courteous, but follow up.

Timing is a big thing there.

Real Estate Marketing Funnel: Transparency

Transparency, once again. Add as much transparency to the entire process as possible. Someone opts in on your website, don’t just kick them out a generic email and then just land on their doorstep in two doors.

Send them an email or pick up the phone and say,

“Drew is actually going to be at your door at four o’clock tomorrow. Drew’s been with us for two years, or five years.”

Or,

“It’s actually going to be me. I’m going to be pulling up in my truck that has XYZ on it, so expect that. And here’s a few things I’m going to be walking through when we get there, and then we kinda talk about what we find and we can talk about the value of the home, and kinda work out a fair offer there for you. Does that work?”

So, then they know exactly how the process is going to work, and then you can walk them through it too. “Once we make the offer, here’s how that works. We can close within seven days, or whatever that is.”

Be crazy transparent during this process because the more transparent you can be at their point of decision, the more that they’re going to want to work with you and it adds credibility to that vetting and verifying phase.

Sharing the Love

Last, don’t stop loving on them. Once again, so many real estate investors … the agents are better … but so many real estate investors are not in the relationship business when you should be. You’re in the transaction business.

“I closed 14 deals this month.” or, “I closed two deals this month.”

How many of those deals did you send a thank you card 30 days after you closed it? Probably none of them.

How many of those deals did you give them a care package at the closing table? Probably very few. How many of those deals did you follow up six months later and see how they’re doing after the move or after the sale, and find out if there’s anything else you can help them with?

Or if there are any other people that they know that you can help? Probably very few of you, because you’re thinking so short term.

And short term is not a fun way to build a business, and it’s not a profitable way to build a business over the long term. And you’re not going to build a great business. You’re probably going to be out of business within two to three years if that’s all that you’re doing. So, make sure you’re building all this up so referrals happen, and start loving on them.

Business is way more fun when you love on your clients and client’s love on you.

I’ll Finish This Advanced Real Estate Marketing Funnel Post With This…

I’m going to finish it with this. I’ve been to masterminds with the largest house flippers and wholesalers in the country. I asked them this question once … there were 50 people in the room … I said, “Raise your hands, anyone in this room who would love to have a beer, have a drink with your clients?” 2 people raised their hand out of 50 people.

And I’m saying this because this isn’t about marketing. This is about building a business you love. About building a business you love, and you can only do that if you love your clients. And loving on your clients does all this way better.

It’s going to make your marketing really powerful. That’s how we’ve grown so much. Thousands of members because we love on our clients.

We’ve realized that you are human beings that have real needs, real desires, real hopes, real fears, and we’re going to help you through that stuff.

Do the same thing for your customers.

For more resources and real estate marketing materials, click on the link!

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Hordes of people left and right are now bumping shoulders among you and trying to get to the same sellers — all screaming at the top of their lungs: “I can buy your house fast for cash!!!”

With more options for sellers and more investors on the scene, our efforts are becoming harder. So, what do we do in this populated market where our prospects are well aware of our message?

The answer is right in your market.

There’s a plethora of advice on how to stand out from the masses. But in this article, I look to the copywriting giants for help.

So, the following advice is taken straight from the methods and teachings of great and famous copywriters like Gary Halbert, Dan Kennedy, Gary Bencivenga, John Caples, David Ogilvy, and Robert Collier… names that have had a huge impact on today’s marketing methods and even Carrot’s own content.

But first…

The problem with REI marketing

If you Google “direct mail real estate investors,” you’ll get a host of articles and forum advice on how to get started with direct mail (DM). But who in their right mind would read through every one of those Bigger Pocket’s articles and forum topics? I did!

When I first wandered into direct mail (before I was aware of copywriting and direct response), I implemented all the advice I gathered from the forums. I even used a famous coach’s DM method exactly as he recommended.

The results?

After tens of thousands of dollars spent and hundreds of calls, I got ZERO deals out of it, maybe two motivated sellers. And yes, I did follow up relentlessly and yes, I did send mail for seven months.

But I wasn’t alone in this. I asked many investors in my area, and I quickly learned that the volume of deals required to obtain consistent results in my area is massive, and very few are successful.

What was the problem?

Fast forward to today, now being a young-schooled copywriter, following the masters of the past, and putting my knowledge to the test with Carrot as a professional copywriter, I realized an important thing… the advice given by coaches/gurus and forums in Biggerpockets is completely contrary to the advice of copywriting and direct mail masters; guys like Dan Kennedy, Eugene Schwartz, Bob Bly, and Robert Collier who all devoted their lives to “sales on paper” and squeezing as much money out of every marketing dollar.

Here’s the difference I found:

The World’s Top Copywriters say:

1. Create a laser-focused list and keep narrowing down that list.
2. Research and study that market relentlessly. Get in their minds. Find out what makes them tick, their fears, desires, etc… Find out what their main problem is.
3. Create a copy that focuses on them and their problem, agitates their problem, and then provides your solution.

Real Estate investors say:

1. Get a list of absentee owners with equity.
2. Send a simple letter saying, “Hi, my name is… and I want to buy your house at….”

Here’s the good thing about direct mail in real estate investing: you can generate $20,000 with one deal. So, a .02% response doesn’t really matter if you have the budget for massive volume while still generating a decent ROI.

Here’s the bad thing about DM in real estate investing: A .02% response can get you broke fast in a crowded market where the customer is well aware of your service.

If you’re advertising in a crowded market and you’re doing what everyone else is doing… then your prospects are getting the same message from multiple people.

At this point… your success is determined SOLELY by luck.

Let’s do better.

Let’s rise above the masses by learning from the pros who devote their entire lives to what we’re talking about.

Here are 5 things you can do to improve your marketing message by just looking at your audience.

Table of Content

Compelling Real Estate Copywriting:

• Real Estate Copywriting Tip #1: Audience Comes First – Identify your ideal buyer and tailor your message accordingly.
• Real Estate Copywriting Tip #2: Research, Research, Research – Knowledge is power! Gather market data and understand buyer trends.
• Real Estate Copywriting Tip #3: Narrow Down Your List – Focus on the most impactful features and benefits for your target audience.
• Real Estate Copywriting Tip #4: Unleash the Power of AI, But Don’t Get Lazy – Leverage AI tools to streamline tasks and boost efficiency.
• Real Estate Copywriting Tip #5: Expanding Your Copywriting Arsenal – Go beyond listings and utilize copywriting across all your marketing channels.

Real Estate Copywriting Tip #1: Audience Comes First

“Tell me about my crabgrass, not your weed killer.”

Features VS. Benefits

Your prospects need the utmost attention from you. So, stop talking about what you have and start talking about THEM and their problems.

Every time your message says something along the lines of “I want to buy your house,” all it says to your prospect is “me, me, me, me!”

This message only has what’s called a “feature” in your product. And listing a feature right off the bat doesn’t grab attention.

Now don’t get me wrong, this can work and has worked in a market where your service is brand new and not really heard of. But things are heating up and there are tons of new investors and more options to sellers.

Instead of talking about your features, re-write them in a different way that places the sellers in the middle: This is called a “benefit.”

Here are some examples of Features vs. Benefits taken from Bob Bly’s “The Online Copywriter’s Handbook,” selling an alarm clock:

Features

1. a) Large illuminated digital display
2. b) Snooze alarm switch
3. c) Digital alarm

Benefits

1. a) Time is easy to see at a glance­—even at night.
2. b) Tired? Just hit a button for 10 more minutes of sleep.
3. c) Alarm wakes you at precisely the right time

See how Bob changed a simple, boring alarm clock feature into a customer focused benefit? This can be done with any product or service. Take for example the features we use as house buyers, rewritten as a benefit:

Features

1. a) All-cash offer
2. b) Fast close
3. c) No hassle

Benefits

1. a) No more hoping and wondering if you have a sale — A guaranteed sale with one offer.
2. b) In 5 days you can wave goodbye to your troublesome house and stressful situation.
3. c) You’ll literally never have to leave your couch until you sell your house.

Here’s an excerpt from one of my blog articles listing benefits of selling to a buyer…

“You can have your home sold in 1 week to a buyer today.

• Get the assurance your house is sold and never risk the mobile sitting for months just losing money.
• Never deal with headache buyers who are just flakey and disappoint you
• Never deal with the agent calling you saying, “only one person showed up to the open house today and they weren’t interested”.
• Never deal with the realization, months after, that you listed the house for $10,000 more than it should’ve (it’s happened to me and it’s not a good feeling).
• Pay nothing out of pocket
• Never deal with picky buyers (they don’t like the paint color, or the floor, or they wanted a new a/c, etc.)
• Sell your property as-is (bugs in all, investors usually take it)”

Focus on the problems

Other than listing benefits in the message, you should also be agitating the central problem of your prospects.

For example:

1. If you sell a plumbing service, talk about what mold can do when it builds up due to a leaky water pipe.
2. Or, if you sell a roofing service talk about what a complete roof replacement costs if you wait until the planks get rotted out.
3. And, if you sell a house-buying-service, talk about how a foreclosed home due to tax delinquency can mean 7 years of ruined credit, losing all your equity in the property, and the embarrassment of losing a house.

The key to all this is to add emotion.

Features like “Cash-offer” and “Fast close” don’t trigger any emotion. But benefits that solve a problem and storytelling of emotional real-estate problems can pack an emotional punch.

The famous negotiator, Jim Camp, once said, “you’re always safe when you’re in the customer’s world.” Meaning? Always go back to the market. Find out what they want, who they are, what they like, what they need, and what they desire and you’ll be better off than most.

As the marketing giant Dan Kennedy has said in the “Ultimate Sales Letter,” “The goal is understanding. To persuade someone, to motivate someone, to sell someone, you really need to understand that person.”

If you get this part right, it doesn’t matter how bad the rest is, you’ll do fine.

But how do we find out what our market wants?

Here’s an excerpt from one of my blog articles listing problems that communicate emotions…

“But if…

you have another mortgage to pay 

have no money to pay that rent space

having medical issue and need to move ASAP

risking eviction

risking foreclosure

need to move out of area for another job you just got

need to pay debt that keeps piling up

need to move in a week for whatever reason…

Than, that offer that’s less that what you expected is much better than paying all that money out of pocket AND suffering through all the pain of staying in the house.”

Real Estate Copywriting Tip #2: Research, Research, Research

“If I have 4 hours to chop a tree, I’ll spend 3 hours sharpening my ax!”

Top copywriters spend hours researching, profiling, and diagnosing their audience. To them, this part is THE most important part of marketing. Exploring and getting in the minds of your sellers is a must.

But how do you do this?

The best way is to talk to motivated sellers. If possible, talk to your previous sellers. Or go door-to-door knocking and spend time face-to-face with them. In other words, spend time with the market.

A good tip given by Ben Settle (you can listen to the Carrot Cast with him here): Spend some time on forums and articles and read comments directly from some people right in your market.

Copywriters like Ben Settle also take time to find out who their audience is in terms of political affiliation, age, gender, race, TV show interests, hobbies, etc.

The bottom line is that you must find out what they truly desire, what they fear, and what they really want. A “cash offer” is not what they really want. What they may truly want is security, or they may truly fear a complete loss of equity or ruined credit from foreclosure, or they may want convenience and not to deal with anything else or to move forward with life away from their stress—in other words, get into the mind of the seller.

The Hidden Benefit

Ted Nicholas (sold over $200 million worth of “how-to” books using direct-response ads in magazines, letters, and newspapers) discusses the importance of emphasizing what he calls the “hidden benefit.” It’s not the obvious benefit, nor is it the first benefit you think of, but the most profound benefit to your prospects.

Let me illustrate this by telling a story from Dan Kennedy’s book, “The Ultimate Sales Letter.”

He describes how he had to come up with a marketing campaign for a presentation called “How to recruit more insurance agents under you.” He spent a lot of time amid these insurance agents.

One day, he was listening in on a conversation between two agents and noted that they had A LOT of interest in golf. Most of the time, they were talking about golf, not recruiting… thus a marketing message was born.

His new message to the insurance agents? “Puts Recruiting on Auto-Pilot, So That You Can Go Play Golf!”

That’s genius! What these insurance agents really wanted was NOT just to recruit. It’s to have more time to golf. Recruiting wasn’t their true desire. He asked, “Why do they want to recruit? What do they really want?” It’s to be able to make money while doing what they love: golf.

Getting to what your prospect really wants is key.

But that’s easier said than done if you don’t know who your prospects are, where they’re at, and what they TRULY want.

I know what some of you might be thinking: “Well, that’s hard to do because I only advertise to a large list of homeowners with different interests.”

Well then, my answer to that is…

Real Estate Copywriting Tip #3: Narrow Down Your List

“The only advantage I want is a starving crowd.”

This is my final piece of advice from marketing expert Gary Halbert.

We know that we must center the ad on the customer and do some research beforehand. But before you do your research, you must have an audience… a very targeted audience.

Gary Halbert had once said in his book “The Boron Letters,” “I only want a starving crowd.”

A list of absentee owners is not a starving crowd. What does a BIG list of homeowners with equity have in common? Nothing… except that they have equity.

Are they “starving to sell their house at a discount for cash and a fast, as-is sale”? Who knows if there are any motivated sellers on that list? It’s a dice game.

Combining multiple lists creates a better list that narrows in on problems rather than equity.

An example would be absentee owners who have inherited a house and have had eviction or credit problems. A probate list containing an out-of-state heir/executor and the property going through probate was owned for at least 20 years.

Now, I understand these are probably difficult lists to obtain, but the main idea I’m illustrating is that almost every single person on that list has a serious problem with money, a tiresome house, or doesn’t want to deal with unwanted property. If you need a simpler approach, just take an eviction, divorce, or tax delinquency list.

Does it seem like it’s a little too much?

Well, Gary Halbert, in the same book, gave away his method for determining a list. In doing so, he cut it down 10 times! That’s right, he used 10 different layers (criteria) to narrow it down to a hotlist.

A list like that is much easier to research. Now, you can speak directly about their pain points.

Plus, this produces a MUCH cheaper marketing budget.

We’ve only touched on the audience in this article. And there’s much more to creating compelling copy.

Real Estate Copywriting Tip #4: Unleash the Power of AI, But Don’t Get Lazy

Listen, I get it. You’re a busy investor, juggling a million things. Writing compelling copy can feel like another mountain to climb. But fear not! AI-powered copywriting tools are here to be your secret weapon. Imagine having a 24/7 virtual assistant who can:

• Craft Initial Drafts in a Flash: Are you stuck staring at a blank page? AI tools can churn out initial drafts based on your targeted seller’s unique selling proposition or property details (square footage, bedrooms, amenities). This gives you a solid foundation to build upon, saving you precious time.
• Keyword Magic Trick: The right keywords are like gold in the online real estate world. AI can analyze market trends and suggest keywords potential sellers and buyers use in their searches. This ensures your copy gets discovered by the right audience, not lost in a sea of generic descriptions.
• SEO Optimization Made Easy: Crafting SEO-friendly copy can feel like deciphering an ancient language. AI tools can analyze your content and recommend tweaks to boost your search engine ranking.
• Grammar Police on Patrol: Typos and grammatical errors can scream “amateur.” AI acts as your virtual editor, providing real-time feedback on grammar, clarity, and sentence structure.

AI: Your Partner, Not a Replacement

Now, let’s be clear: AI is a powerful tool, but it’s not here to replace your savvy as an investor. While AI excels at data analysis and technical stuff, it lacks the human touch.

Storytelling Sells!

AI can’t spin a captivating yarn that tugs at the heartstrings of motivated sellers or paints a picture of a dream home (or a high-ROI rental property!). That’s where you, the savvy investor, come in. Use AI-generated drafts as a springboard, but infuse them with your unique voice and storytelling skills. Highlight the emotional connection your audience will have with you.

The Winning Formula: Human + Machine

The key to success is leveraging the strengths of both AI and human expertise. Use AI tools to streamline tasks, research keywords, and get a jumpstart on your drafts. Then, unleash your inner wordsmith to craft copy that showcases your skills, offers, and solutions.

Remember, you’re an investor, and every detail counts. Make your copy work as hard as you do!

Real Estate Copywriting Tip #5: Expanding Your Copywriting Arsenal

Crafting compelling copy is just the first step in effective marketing. Here’s how you can leverage your copywriting skills to attract the right sellers and buyers and maximize your return on investment (ROI):

Targeted Website Content:

Your website is your digital storefront for attracting qualified leads. Compelling copywriting is key to converting visitors into offers:

• Headline Hero: Craft clear, concise headlines that grab attention and instantly communicate the property’s potential.
• Data-Driven Decisions: Include data and market analysis to showcase your market knowledge and support your offers.
• Compelling Case Studies: Feature past success stories with before-and-after testimonials and showcase renovation examples to demonstrate how you’re uplifting the community.
• Clear Calls to Action (CTAs): Make it easy for interested leads to connect with you. Include CTAs like “Get an Offer Today” or “Download our Free Guide: The Pros and Cons Of Selling A House To A Professional House Buyer.”

Social Media: Engaging with Potential Leads

Social media platforms are powerful tools to connect with motivated leads:

• Captions that Convert: Write compelling captions highlighting your unique selling points (USPs) and using relevant hashtags to reach your target audience.
• Targeted Ads: Craft engaging ad copy with clear CTAs to drive traffic to your website or landing page with detailed information.
• Behind-the-scenes Content: Share behind-the-scenes glimpses of renovation projects or neighborhood highlights to build excitement and showcase your expertise.

Building Trust with Consistent Branding:

Maintaining a consistent brand voice and style across all your marketing materials establishes you as a professional and trustworthy investor:

• Define Your Investor Persona: Are you a quick-flip specialist, a buy-and-hold investor, or something in between? Tailor your brand voice to resonate with your ideal buyer.
• Develop a Style Guide: Create a style guide that outlines your preferred voice, tone, and formatting to ensure consistency across all your written content.

Tailoring Your Copy for Different Property Types:

Adjust your copywriting approach to highlight the specific benefits of each property type:

• High-Demand Rentals: Focus on strong rental income potential, low vacancy rates, and desirable amenities for tenants.
• Fixer-Uppers: Emphasize the property’s potential for value-added renovations and highlight the cost-saving benefits.
• Commercial Properties: Showcase the property’s location, traffic patterns, and potential for increased business activity.

By mastering these copywriting strategies, you can effectively market your investment properties, attract qualified buyers, and achieve your real estate investment goals.

Every good advertiser starts with their audience

I know that I’ve mentioned direct mail quite a bit. However, all this info applies directly to any marketing channel, such as Facebook, TV, Bandit signs, and PPC.

Simply put…

1. Narrow down your list to hit specific pain points.
2. Research that list to learn more about your audience, hidden benefits, and pain points (including interests, hobbies, TV shows, age, gender, political affiliation, desires, etc.).
3. Focus on the prospect and their pain points in the message.
4. Use AI-powered copywriting tools as your secret weapon.
5. Expand your copywriting arsenal

Applying these tips doesn’t matter if you’re in a crowded market or not.

Imagine your prospect who is tired of her rental and having money issues, and she’s holding two letters in her hand:

One says, “I will buy your house…” a message she gets every week. The other (yours) speaks of the problems of evictions, the cost, and how difficult it is to sell a house with tenants and then introduces a solution.

It’s obvious which one grabs more attention.

However, this is nothing new. This has been tried and made true by hundreds of copywriters who help 8-figure businesses increase their revenue.

If you implement these, you can put yourself ahead of the game by increasing your ROI (and your success). While others spend $10,000 a month for seven months on a huge equity list, saying, “I want to buy your house…”